What is and What Could Have Been
by wolfpawn
Summary: Done for a prompt for Janedoe876 on Tumblr. Imagine Loki's wife suffering a terrible nightmare and him soothing her after it.


The sound of buildings crashing to the ground and of women and children screaming in terror was everywhere. The smell of burning, the wails of despair and the sounds of a battle continuing, firing of guns and blasting of cannons.

Lena shook in terror as another blast caused a building close to her to begin to collapse, the rubble of which splaying onto the streets and a cloud of dust engulfing her, causing her to cough and splutter as she walked forward, using the side wall of another building to guide her through the street.

She had been in the marketplace when the attack began; when the large, black oddly shaped ships seemed to just magically appear over the bay between Asgard and the Bifrost. People stood watching them for a moment, unsure as to what they were, or what threat they posed, but after a moment, one crashed onto the Bifrost bridge, black smoke pluming from it as it did so before smaller ships dispersed from the next ones, which caused the great guarding guns of the city to come to life and fire at the agile foe. The great golden shield began to surround the palace, almost making it to the top of the great structure before it ceased to climb and fell once more, leaving it previous to attacks. Lena immediately began to run home, her parents were elderly and they would not be able to get out of their home if it was to be hit. Her name being called for her to return, but she ignored whoever it was that was calling her. As she ran, she prayed to the Norns that everything would be alright, that it was not as bad as it seemed. But as she turned the last street before her parents home she stared in disbelief at what she saw in front of her.

Gone, her parents home was nothing more than burning rubble and ash. She fell to her knees and wept as she tried to understand what she was seeing. Someone, the one that had been calling her, had caught up to her and was trying to pull her away, trying to get her to leave, but she could not, she felt it in her that her parents had been caught inside.

'Lena, Lena, please.' She shook in terror. 'Lena, listen to my voice, it's alright, whatever you think you are seeing, it is not real.' The voice stated soothingly. 'I am here, it is alright.' slowly her breathing started to settle. 'Lena, are you alright?'

'Mum...Dad...'

'Your parents are fine, they are on the other end of the hall.' She opened her eyes and look around. 'It was just a dream, whatever you thought happened them did not happen. They are safe in bed, just as we are.' She looked around again to see she was in a large bed, green and black silk sheets covered her, turning to her other side, the arm that had been holding her before allowing her to rotate until she was face to face with the loving face of her husband. 'See, everything is fine.'

'Loki?'

'Yes, darling, I'm here.'

'I...'

'Whatever it was, it was not real. We are here, we are safe.' He promised, kissing her temple and gently caressing her to help her calm. Finally, her breathing began to slow towards normal again. 'Do you want to talk about it?'

'These creatures, in terrifying ships, they came and attacked us, attacked Asgard and they...' She began to weep again.

'They attacked your parents?' Loki guessed.

Lena shook her head, 'They were killed in the fighting, their home...'

'Darling, your parents live here, with us, remember?' she frowned. 'They came to stay when you were ill and have never left.' Loki smiled.

Lena recalled when she caught a terrible fever a year before, and true to Loki's word, her parents came and had yet to leave, her mother and Loki's forming a tight friendship.

'So do not fret, there are no terrible creatures, no one is harming your parents and no one is attacking Asgard and were they to, I would make every last one suffer for their decision to ever consider such.'

Lena smiled as she curled in against her husband once more. She thought of the night in their courting, when Loki was angered at his father's decision to give Thor the throne, how she could see that he was on the verge of doing something brash, but she had persuaded him not to, to use his diplomatic mind and they had convinced Odin to stave Thor's ascension a while longer, for the prince to grow and mature, and in doing so, readied the realm and Thor more for what was required for him as king. An act that had far-reaching consequences, some would argue it altered the future of Asgard somewhat, for without Loki's knowing his past, the future of Asgard was altered, or so Frigga had stated to her before she had retired to bed that night.


End file.
